Red Bulls finally give Petke a new deal

JIM HAGUEAssociated Press

Published
7:04 pm EDT, Thursday, March 13, 2014

HARRISON, N.J. (AP) -- Sporting director Andy Roxburgh never had a doubt about reaching a new deal with Mike Petke after the rookie coach led the New York Red Bulls to 17 wins and the Supporters' Shield as the top club in the 2013 MLS regular season.

The only problem was getting the deal done. It look a lot longer than expected.

Four months after the season ended and a game into the current campaign, the Red Bulls and the 38-year-old Petke came to an agreement on a contract extension.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed and Roxburgh said Thursday that there wasn't a timetable in securing a new deal with the franchise's all-time leader in starts and games played.

"It wasn't like we just simply decided to do it and it wasn't a matter of us taking our time," Roxburgh said. "It takes time to put this together. We've been talking with Mike for quite some time. It's just a matter of the process playing out. We had Mike under contract (for 2014), but we thought it would be a good thing for Mike's stability. It's an advancement and improvement to the contract that he had previously."

The fiery Petke was a perfect fit for the Red Bulls. The franchise enjoyed its best regular season in club history (17-9-8) before falling in the first round of the playoffs to Houston.

"He's dedicated to developing himself as a coach and we're trying to give him the absolute maximum support to push him along that track," Roxburgh said in a conference call.

There was no significance to the timing of the deal, even though the Red Bulls are coming off a 4-1 loss to Vancouver to open the 2014 season on Saturday. The Red Bulls open their home schedule Saturday afternoon against the Colorado Rapids.